Over the past few months, with the northward migration of Asian elephants in southwest China's Yunnan Province, the wild species has caught the eye of the international community, and the preparation for the establishment of an Asian elephant national park in China has been pushed forward. With the promotion and establishment of elephant national parks all over the world, especially in African countries featuring rich biodiversity resources, a well-preserved ecological environment and traditional know-how, a lot of experience in elephant protection has been accumulated.

Valuable knowledge

Kenya is one of the countries in Africa with a large number of elephants. At present, the number of elephants remains at about 35,000. Elephants inhabit nearly one fifth of Kenya's land area and nearly half of them reside in national parks and reserves. In recent years, the conflict between humans and elephants has evolved into a major threat to elephant protection, posing new challenges to elephant protection and management in Kenya. In this context, some national parks and reserves have begun to integrate the community-based protection of elephants into their policies and concrete actions.

Taking the Samburu region in northern Kenya as an example, two national nature reserves, namely Samburu and Buffalo Spring, have been established solely for the purpose of elephant protection. These two national nature reserves cover an area of some 330 square km, and around 750 elephants roam the reserves. The number of elephants in the reserves is constantly changing because these animals migrate freely and often are found outside reservation lines. The Samburu people, who mainly engage in animal husbandry, are native to this area and their livestock grazing lands and the elephants' habitat overlap. Therefore, the competition for water, land and other natural resources has caused both long-term and periodic conflicts between man and animal.

At the same time, these people, given the long-term symbiotic environment, possess a rich traditional knowledge related to elephants. Today, their familiarity has become the basis for solving the human-elephant conflict and protecting the large mammal in the Samburu area. This novel notion includes the following three aspects:

First, the traditional knowledge of elephants is studied in great detail, including myths and legends, totem beliefs, livelihood technologies and customary laws. In the myths and legends of the Samburu people, the animal is regarded as an ancient "relative" of mankind, because they bear many similarities with human beings; the trunk resembles the human arms, the female has breasts like those of a woman, etc. At the same time, in days long gone, elephants actually used to live inside the Samburu people's homes and help the women with their housework. These myths and legends are testimony to the close relationship between man and elephant in the region.

Secondly, traditional knowledge is incorporated into different measures to protect the largest existing land animal. The local reserve applies traditional Samburu bio-culture to track the migration path of elephants. The reserve organized the Samburu women in particular to learn how to track elephants via radio collar, as to study their migration and gain a deeper understanding of their living habits.

Third, elephant protection education is carried out based on traditional knowledge. The reserve is aware of the need to assist the Samburu community in elevating the younger generation's traditional awareness. When designing the elephant protection plan, the reserve adopted a strategy of adding this knowledge to the modern education curriculum. Under the conservation framework, the stories and customs are incorporated into wildlife education focusing on local village schools. In addition, the reserve has produced promotional books describing the Samburu beliefs and folklores, which were distributed across local schools and communities.

Lessons to be learned

In China, elephants mainly live in south Yunnan, which is also home to many ethnic minorities. Most ethnic groups in the region have coexisted with elephants throughout history, forging a time-honored ecologically responsible awareness of elephants. Therefore, in the future, China should attach great importance to this type of environmental philosophy, learn from Kenya's experiences, and incorporate the combined expertise into its planning of national parks.

According to the Biographies of Dawan in Records of the Grand Historian written by Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 25) historian Sima Qian, there was an "elephant-riding country" established by the ancestors of ethnic minorities at that time in Yunnan, where locals were highly adept at riding elephants. The Dai people in ancient times referred to the Lancang River flowing through Yunnan as Nan Lan Zhang, meaning "the river where millions of elephants are bred." Dai legend has it that Heaven and Earth were once connected and the elephants then held up the sky with their trunks and pressed down the earth with their feet.

No ecological culture is inflexible. China should promote the formation and development of a framework related to elephant preservation on the basis of traditional understandings. The purpose of any biological culture is to realize the harmonious coexistence between humans and elephants under the concept of ecological civilization.

Additionally, China should promote the education of traditional elephant management to turn the protection of the mammal into national action. At the same time, in the context of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, China will contribute to global biodiversity conservation by creating an Asian elephant national park that respects biodiversity. In the future, the Asian elephant national park should carefully strive to integrate eco-culture into the design scheme and construction strategy of the overall park. At the same time, this culture will be deeply rooted in the very hearts of the people, so that locals of all ethnic groups can actively participate in elephant research and protection.

Bearing in mind the protection of its native Asian elephant, China should step up cooperation with African countries as it can provide financial and technical resources for elephant protection there and cast this type of bio-preservation as a trademark of the green Silk Road.

It is time to think about how to establish a long-term mechanism for the harmonious coexistence of man and elephant and, more specifically, contemplate the question of how to establish an Asian elephant national park in areas with diverse ethnic populations. 

Yin Lun is a professor at Southwest Forestry University, China; Misiani Zachary works for the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, Republic of Kenya

(Printed edition title: HARMONIOUS COEXISTENCE)

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon

Comments to wanghairong@bjreview.com